Marvel Team-Up is one of the most classic comic book series that has unfortunately been lost in time. Since being created Marvel Team-Up was one of the few comic books were we saw our favorite Marvel characters crossover with each other. Mostly starring Spider-Man and another Marvel hero or anti-hero, there was always a special aura around this series. That has become a bit redundant given in the modern era of Marvel with how often superheroes team up in solo series, team books and big events. Still, Marvel Team-Up is a comic that could be a comic book that can stand out with a few modern day updates to the format. That Eve L. Ewing and Joey Vazquez step in to bring Marvel Team-Up to life. For the first team-up in this new volume Spider-Man is being paired up with one of the fastest rising stars of the next generation of heroes, Ms. Marvel. How will these two characters work together? Let’s find out with Marvel Team-Up #1.
Writer: Eve L. Ewing
Artist: Joey Vazquez
Colorist: Felipe Sobreiro
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: At his apartment Peter Parker gets ready to introduce his former classmate Dr. Yesenia Rosario at a conference. While he is nervous about making a speech in front of a crowd Randy Robertson does his best to hype him up. Peter wonders if things were better when they were younger. Randy jokes that he is good with not going back to the acne and swaggerless teenage life.
At the Technology and Innovation Expo while he is getting ready for his introduction Peter gets into some small talk with Yesenia. Yesenia mentions that her device is more than just uploading people’s brains. Peter asks Yesenia if she thinks about being younger and something different. Yesenia says she does but then thinks of how her work has taught her not to take things for granted.
Peter then goes up to introduce Yesenia to the conference for her keynote address. He hypes her up for the crowd and gets complimented from everyone backstage.
Peter spider-sense suddenly goes off and he rushes to change into his Spider-Man costume.
When he returns Spider-Man notices Yesenia’s invention is gone. When he goes to check on the keynote Spider-Man finds the Jackal, who stole the device, on stage with Yesenia.
Before things escalate Spider-Man confronts the Jackal and they begin fighting over Yesenia’s device. Ms. Marvel joins the fight out of nowhere. Spider-Man tells Ms. Marvel to get everyone, including Yesenia, to safety.
With Ms. Marvel securing the others Spider-Man is able to fight more openly but is still unable to capture the Jackal. Ms. Marvel returns after clearing the room to help fight the Jackal. Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel are able to finally capture Jackal and take Yesenia’s device back before it is fully activated.
Ms. Marvel throws Jackal outside to where the cops are. Spider-Man tries to fix Yesenia’s device before it explodes. He is unable to fix it in time and an explosion sends our two heroes flying.
Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel recover from the blast. When they do they realize they have switched bodies.
Earlier that day Kamala rushes out of her house to go on her field trip, though she is unable to avoid an argument with her mom about breakfast.
Kamala makes it to her bus right before it takes off.
On the bus, Kamala talks to Bruno about how she’s been feeling down lately and has been thinking if things would be better if they were older. Bruno says he is cool with staying young since they have more freedom right now. Kamala says things aren’t like that for her since she has responsibilities.
They eventually get to the Technology and Innovation Expo. Bruno talks to Kamala all about Yesenia’s device. They then listen to Peter make his introduction and Dr. Rosario give her keynote address on her Polyphasic Remote Neural Net Dual Transponder, which she calls Polly.
Suddenly Jackal gets on stage with Yesenia’s Polly. Jackal says that he plans on using Polly for his cloning experiments.
Kamala rushes to change into her Ms. Marvel costume.
When she returns Ms. Marvel finds that Spider-Man is already on scene to stop Jackal. Spider-Man tells Ms. Marvel to get everyone to safety. Ms. Marvel does as Spider-Man says and quickly gets Dr. Rosario off stage and the rest of the crowd out of the room.
With everyone safe Ms. Marvel returns to the stage to help Spider-Man stop the Jackal. They are able to capture the Jackal and get the Polly device back. As shown before Spider-Man is unable to fix it before it explodes.
When they recover from the explosion Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel find that they have switched bodies with each other. End of issue.
The Good: First and foremost Marvel Team-Up #1 is a fun comic book. Eve Ewing does not shy away from going in on what makes Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel engaging characters. The brief team-up that they have made for a good tease for what the rest of this story arc will be.
The specific format used to show the day in the life of each character was a great choice by Ewing. By splitting things up with half the issue dedicated to Peter Parker and the other half dedicated to Kamala Khan, Ewing was able to get the reader inside each characters head. That is important as Marvel Team-Up is a book that new readers will look to pick up. So for those unfamiliar with the current status quo of Peter or Kamala this format gave their respective lives a spotlight.
This format also help build a connection between Peter and Kamala without them interacting with each other. Both characters are in different crossovers that is based around there age and current paths. For Peter he has been struggling to find his place after Parker Industries failed, he got his degree taken away due to plagiarism he did not do and is now back to being an ESU student. Having all this happen to him it is understandable that he wonders what things would be like if he had a redo of his late teens and early twenties.
For Kamala, she is in a spot most teenagers are in as she tries to figure out what is next for her after high school. That is a bit complicated because she also has the responsibilities of being the superhero Ms. Marvel. While we can’t relate to their superhero adventures, Ewing utilizes these grounded parts of Peter and Kamala’s lives to show connect the reader to both characters.
Even though they only interacted for a short period it was nice to see how Ms. Marvel still geeks out over teaming up with Spider-Man. Outside of Miles Morales, Spider-Man has had very limited interactions with the next generation of Marvel heroes. The majority of the time Spider-Man teams up with other heroes they are his peers in the Avengers, Defenders and Fantastic Four. Because of that it is easy to forget how Spider-Man is someone that many of next-gen heroes look up to.
Quickly establishing this made Spider-Man taking charge in the fight against Jackal a natural part of the story. It was a good way to show that Spider-Man is very well experienced that he can give Ms. Marvel the role of getting everyone at the conference out safely while he fought Jackal. This also helped to give the fight with the Jackal greater urgency since Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel also had an entire auditorium filled with people to keep safe.
With all this strong character work made the Freaky Friday body switch something that should be a fun storyline that fits with what Marvel Team-Up should be about. This angle can tap further into what Ewing established with where Peter and Kamala are in their lives. It also could make for different ways in which Peter and Kamala use each others powers.
Joey Vazquez did a very good job matching the fun tone Ewing’s story in Marvel Team-Up #1. Vazquez brought out the light hearted tone of both angles of this story. Specifically, the unknown status Peter and Kamala are in their lives was put over well with how they both reacted during their respective conversations. And while short, he showed a good feel for how the action should be when both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel are fighting with their villains.
The Bad: Jackal was very much a one note villain. That is not the stories fault. This is something the Jackal has always been. There hasn’t been a writer who has found a way to get past the whole mad scientist hole Jackal has never gotten out of. The ease in which Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel were able to defeat him showed how much of a throwaway villain he is.
Overall: Marvel Team-Up #1 is a fun start to this new series. Eve L. Ewing and Joey Vazquez did a great job capturing what makes Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel engaging superheroes. I recommend Marvel Universe fans to pick up Marvel Team-Up #1 .
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